George Edwards: Putting Chinese food to the test

Yours truly is talking Mother's Day and Chinese cuisine. We decided to celebrate with take-out from Dynasty Restaurant in the shopping center at the corner of David and Forest in Pacific Grove. It had been some time since I had downright enjoyed putting wine to the food-of-the-Orient pairing test. We had sipped and nibbled the Dynasty menu on a couple of prior occasions, as I shall share shortly, but on this one we shifted our focus to two sweet-and-sour preparations and a diverse handful of first-try bottlings.

I was most fond of the breaded sweet-and-sour prawns with the Fre alcohol-removed sparkling wine ($6.50) ranking as the usual star of the show. The Handcraft California Chardonnay 2010 ($13.95, 13.5percent alcohol) that had scored oh-so-well with the smoked pork and sautéed prawns paella the night before earned a solid thumbs-up with this Chinese fare. The Brucher Santa Maria Pinot Noir 2010 ($17.95, 14percent alcohol) had also proven paella-positive but came off a touch edgy on night two with the prawns. And the final participant was none other than the just-released Norma Jeane Napa Merlot 2012 ($11.95, 12.5percent alcohol) that was surprisingly up to snuff. I like surprises.

Alas, I found the deep-fried breaded sweet-and-sour pork a bit chewy, but darned if the Fre and Handcraft didn't pair up nicely while the Brucher and Norma Jeane just made the grade. Methinks I'll give the chicken version a shot next time.

Scouring my wine profile notes to expand upon the Chinese cuisine theme, I discovered that a different array of Dynasty menu items had enjoyed the company of three of my most versatile multi-vintage bottlings. The dry rosé star was the Charles Melton Rosé of Virginia from Australia (nine vintages and counting), which was the very first rosé I positioned on a wine list at Pebble. The Melton 2008 batted a thousand with cherry chicken, fried rice with pork, chicken and prawns, spicy spring rolls and both Szechwan spring rolls and prawns, coming up a little short only with the seared scallops. You may recall that I rank rosé as the second most food-versatile wine category, so no surprises here.

The vinous white was none other than the most food-friendly example in my experience. Yes, I am referring to the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend (12 vintages and counting). The '08 also fell for the Szechwan prawns and fried rice with pork and was very enthusiastic about the cherry pork, dim sum, and Dynasty Beef. The list of successes also included hot-and-sour soup, creamy won tons, and kung pao chicken.

And what red would I have challenged if not the J. Lohr Wildflower Valdiguie (15 vintages and counting). Pine Ridge ranks at the top of the white ladder, Valdiguie is the supreme red. While particularly fond of the cherry pork and dim sum, it didn't miss a beat with fried rice and pork and Dynasty Beef and earned a passing score with the hot-and-sour soup and creamy won ton.

Hey, perhaps at some point I will also share my somewhat more meager notes on Japanese (think teriyaki) and Korean fare. Stay tuned.